Declaring War
by PrettyGothGirl
Summary: RG: Rikku and Gippal in a leather goods shop, and Rikku needs a second opinion.


**Declaring War**  
_by PrettyGothGirl_

All Disclaimers Apply  
**Summary:** Rikku and Gippal in a leather goods shop, and Rikku needs a second opinion.  
**Author's Note:** Happy Birthday Iceprincessd! Today's challenge words are coarse, wiggle and pout. Umm, I blame this one also on a headache, a birthday and the firefly fandom. Not meant to be at all serious.

It started with the desire for a jacket. Djose was much more temperate that what Rikku was used to and since starting up her own little shop (living above it) in the growing Al Bhed community that had formed around Gippal's Machine Faction. She longed for a jacket just to stop getting goose bumps every time she walked out her shop's front door. Being the new motto of Djose was 'support the community' she was buying her jacket from a local leather goods shop. The problem was they sold more than just jackets.

And while Rikku liked her dresspheres well enough. Most of them weren't practical for everyday wear and she didn't even bother with her thief sphere unless she was going out on a trip or something. Her wardrobe was rather limited and the shop had leather pants.

It had been too much of a temptation. She found a pair in her size, tried them on and was twisting about trying to look at the back and decided she was in need of a second opinion. And she was distressingly out of girlfriends to shop with. Paine's opinion would have worked because she wore leather pants that fit fairly well. Though they weren't nearly so tight as the pair Rikku was wearing. She tried to touch her toes and frowned. It would take her a bit to break them in, but overall it would be worth it.

She twisted in the mirror and frowned more. She just couldn't be sure.

The door opened and Rikku's ears perked up as she heard the storeowner greet his new customer by name.

"Ho Gippal, here for that order?"

She peeked her head out the door and grinned. Here was a good source of a second opinion. She adjusted the pants a little and walked out. She reached his elbow and poked his shoulder.

"Hey, you." She said when he didn't look at her.

He turned his head. "Cid's gi-" He stumbled to a halt and stared at her. His brain couldn't comprehend the notion of Rikku in dark brown leather pants so tight they fit like a second skin.

She took a step away. "I need a second opinion. What do you think?" She spun in a slow circle and rubbed the sides of the pants.

Gippal's mouth opened and closed a few times.

She bit her lip. "Do they make me look fat?" She looked over her shoulder at him and batted her eyelashes. It wasn't a fair question but she wanted him to say something.

His jaw closed with a snap. The storeowner started coughing and shaking. Gippal shook his head rapidly like a dog waking up. "No." He didn't know if there was anything that could make Rikku look fat. She was tiny and hadn't an ounce of fat she didn't need on her body, which was part of his problem because there was muscle instead.

Rikku grinned and turned back to face him, bouncing on her heels. "I don't know though. Should I get them?"

Gippal closed his eye for a few moments. "Why are you asking me?"

"Umm, you're here." Rikku shrugged. And he was hot and she had a tiny crush on him and his opinion was important, not that she was ever going to say so. "And I need someone else to tell me if they fit or not. Maybe, maybe I should get red." She headed towards the rack, plucked a pair of red pants off of it and headed with her prize back to the fitting room.

The storeowner cleared his throat. "I'll just keep these here."

Gippal sighed and followed her. "Rikku, you can't be walking around in leather pants."

She looked over her shoulder at him and frowned. "Why not?"

Gippal clenched his jaw. He didn't have a good reason for her not to wear spray painted on leather other than for the sake of his _sanity_ but he couldn't say that. He grasped at straws for a few seconds and watched her begin to smirk. "Be-because you're a business owner now and you have to look respectable."

She made a raspberry and shut the door of the changing room. It couldn't have been more clear if she said shoopuf shit over what he thought of his reason.

Gippal sat down outside and tried not to imagine Rikku wiggling about trying to get the pants off because the warm leather had molded to her curves. He continued. "You'll attract the wrong sorts of clients and you'll distract me- the workers."

The door opened and Rikku's head peeked around. "Distract you?" Her eyebrows rose.

"The workers." He corrected, his palms sweating. Rikku running around in those tiny micro skirts and bikini tops was bad and her outfit when they were younger with that bit of midriff showing. He licked his lips. Her stomach was begging to be kissed or covered with whip cream and licked off…

"A distraction." She pursed her lips. "Well, at least you aren't completely oblivious." She shut the door. If she was a distraction to him, at least he had noticed her trying to get his attention without hanging all over him.

"Oblivious!" Gippal sputtered.

"Yep."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You being distracted."

"I have to distract myself from you or else-" He snapped his mouth shut and turned red.

Rikku giggled. The door opened again and she walked out, this time in tight red leather pants with the zipper done but the button undone, showing more of her stomach than he was comfortable with in public. He swallowed. She smirked. "Or else, what?"

"Nothing."

She pouted. "Is it coarse?"

"Coarse?"

"Crude, disgusting, sexual, vulgar, obscene, uncouth, rude, naughty, you know, coarse. I'm a big girl. I can take it."

"Stop hanging out with Paine." He groaned. He could always tell when Paine taught Rikku new words, though uncouth was definitely also on that list.

"No. She's my friend and she's your friend and she also wears leather pants. I think these might be too tight." Rikku stretched pulling her stomach muscles taut and with her arms over her head it made her look well, sexual.

He could be coarse too. "It would be nice if you didn't dress like a mechanic's wet dream."

She smiled. "Are they your wet dreams? You're a mechanic." She came over and straddled his lap and crossed her arms on his chest.

He struggled not to lick his lips again. She was far too close for comfort, especially her chest and other portions of her anatomy that if she just wiggled would make him really uncomfortable. "Rikku."

She laughed at him. "Oh come on," She lowered her eyelids. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

"No."

She sighed and pouted again. "You're absolutely no fun." She smiled and narrowed her eyes further. "Okay, I'll _show_ you mine if you show me yours."

He leaned forward a little so their lips almost touched. "No."

She blinked, trying to be a picture of innocence. "Well, I didn't mean right now." She tilted her head. "Although, the dressing room…"

He picked her up and thrust her away from him. She was trying his self-control. She giggled and kept her feet. "I think I'm going to need boots too." She strutted towards the racks of shoes and began picking them up and examining them.

"Don't you have a wardrobe?"

"No."

"They're called dresspheres."

"Paine has the only warrior dressphere that has leather pants worth wearing everyday." Actually, it had more to do with the top and the gloves than the pants on her version of the warrior dressphere that made it not something she would wear all the time. She picked up a pair of particularly tall boots and pondered them for a moment before setting them back down.

"Borrow Paine's."

"No way."

"You, you can't walk around in skin tight leather pants."

"I remind you of the original question. Why not?" She picked up another boot and set it back down.

"Be-because you can't." He was bordering desperate. He couldn't have Rikku running around Djose in leather pants without doing something about it, like taking her out of them or having one of his workers hit on her and having to kill them because Rikku was his or something of the whole being locked in a closet with her nature because some of his workers thought their relationship was far too funny and should be interfered with. "It's not fair." He wasn't watching what he said anymore.

"Not fair." She said. Her voice was flat and she watched him. She had no idea what he was talking about.

"I'll lose and I've been winning and this just won't work. I'll have to fight back and it'll get ugly and can you please just not do this." He liked the stalemate just where it was. It took effort not to give in to his desires but he maintained a good teasing relationship with her.

She mouthed the words 'fight back.' "Gippal, I completely lost you."

He colored. "Good."

"Noooo. Not good."

"I can't be distracted." He crossed his arms.

Rikku smirked and fiddled with her hair. She looked at the ceiling and rocked back and forth. "I think you need to be distracted."

"No. I don't. It's bad enough already."

She heard him but pretended to ignore him. A quick grin escaped. She pressed her lips together in an effort not to laugh. "And it's my money anyways so," she nodded sharply and looked down at him. "You lose."

He stood and walked over to her, looming over her. "You aren't going to like this." He growled as he declared war.

Her eyes sparkled and she grinned. "No. I'm going to love it."

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